Picture hanger



June 9, 1953 J. l. KROGH 2,641,427

PICTURE HANGER Filed Dec. 10, 1949 FIG. 1

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JENS l. KROGH BY aawm ATTORNEY Patented June 9, 1 953 PIQTURE HANGER;

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Application December 10, 194,8, Serial Nq.,132,,2 66' 2.,Clain. (01. 2458 218) This invention relates to a picture hanger and more particularly to apparatus for hanging a.

picture in such a manner that the picture. re-.= mains level even when jarred, but is readily move. able laterally along a level line without the. necessity of repositioning screws or the like on the supporting surface.

In the hanging" of pictures on the walls of rooms, it. is. desirable that the. pictures be prop.-. erly located with respect to height. and cornersymmetry and that they remain level after positi'oning at. the desired spot: but, as. various changes. are made in the room, such as the add-l tion of" furniture ormirrors, itv often becomes necessary to. shift the position of the picture laterally on the wall to maintain balance and symmetry in the room.

The more common apparatus for hanging pic: tures consists of a wire attached to the, backof the picture frame for cooperation with a nail or screw driven into the wall, and when it. be.-. comes necessary to. move. the picture laterally it is necessary to remove the nail or screw and re-Joc-ate it. at. the desired new position. This practice is. awkward and leaves the wall surface damaged and unattractive. Further, with this prior art: arrangement, any jarring or shaking of the floor or the Wall tilts the picture and it is necessary to he constantly releveling the picture.

The prior art picture hangers have not been adequate from many standpoints, such as simplic-ity of installation and dependency of opera tion, nor have they provided a structure which is readily marketable at an inexpensive level.

It is an object of this invention to provide a p ture han er which s readi y adaptable to any size picture.

A further object of this invention is to provide a picture hanger which can be readily installed without the necessity of complex equipment or calculations.

Also an objectof this invention resides in the particular arrangement whereby after the picture is installed it may be readily shifted laterally along a level line.

Another object of this invention is to provide a picture hanger which safely supports the weight of heavy pictures and the like on vertical surfaces.

A further object of this invention is to provide a picture hanger which retains the picture in a level position even with jarring or vibration of the supporting surface.

Another object of this invention is to provide a picture hanger which is completely concealed 2: behind the. picture back and therefore not visible. to viewers of the picture.

Another object of this invention is .to. provide a picture hanger which is: easy and" inexpensive to. fabricate and market.

Qther and: further objects and advantages. of my invention will be apparent from the follow ing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings: in which like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, and wherein Fig. 1 is a front View of a detail of" my invene tion.

Fig. 2 is a back view of a conventional picture frame with a further detail of my invention mounted thereon.

Fig. 3 is a: perspective view of a picture mounted by my invention on a supporting sur: face.

Fig. i is an elevation of a detail.

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 5'.& or Fig. 3.v

In the embodiment of my invention chosen for illustration, a fiat, elongated support strip ID, of metal, plastic or other suitable material; has a plurality of holes H spaced substantially along the longitudinal center line and is designed to be removably attached to. a wall l2, or other sup port, by means of a pair of special retaining screws I3, l3. As is readily seen in Fig. 4, the retaining screws have a long tapered shank M with wide spiral threads, for gripping plaster especially, and an enlarged shoulder portion l5 near the grooved head it. Screw 13" has a similar shoulder f5". The shoulder portions l5, l5 are larger than the openings 1] in the support strip [0 so that the shoulders P5, l5 protrude outwardly from the strip it when the strip. i ti h y sc ewed to the w !2 b screws 3. l3". as is readily seen in Fig, 5,,

A f at. n a e ttac i str p likewi e of metal, plastic or other suitable material, has a series o ngitudinal s aced. hole ll nea th pp r ed e th reof and. a series 9 longitudinally pa d se tions or notch s on the. mite!!! edge the coi- Str p is at ached to a ic ure 20 on the opposite vertical sides of the conventional picture frame 2| by means of a pair of screws 22 passing through a spaced pair of the openings l8. The serrations l 9 are slightly larger than the shoulders l5, I5 of screws l3, 13' so that the attaching plate I! may be readily hung on the shoulders l5, l5 of screws l3, l3, respectively, with a sliding fit.

When hanging a picture by my invention, the

strip I0, of the appropriate size according to the picture width, is located properly with respect to the room and carefully leveled with respect to the surface of the floor and ceiling, and then the two special screws I3 and I 3 are screwed into the wall I2 through a pair of the openings II in the strip I thereby securing the supporting strip ID to the wall I2. In this position the enlarged circular shoulders I5, I of the screws I3, I3, respectively, protrude outwardly from the plate ID to form in effect a pair of wall pins, and the special screws I3, I3 enter deeply and securely into the wall I2 thereby providing a rigid support. Then the attaching strip I1, cut to appropriate length, is secured to the back of the ver-- tical side moulding 2| of the picture 20 by means of the screws 22 which pass through a pair of spaced holes I8 that are in alignment with the moulding 2 I. In placing the strip I! on the picture moulding, the upper edge may be leveled with respect to the upper margin of the picture 20 thereby assuring proper leveling when placed on the wall. As is readily seen in Fig. 3, the picture 29 is hung in place on wall I2 by aligning one of the serrations I 9 over the protruding enlarged shoulder I5 of the screw l3, and at the same time the other spaced screw I3 will come into alignment with another one of the serrations l9 so that the attaching strip I! with the picture may be lowered until the upper inside surface of the serrations I9 support the weight of the picture on the screws I3, l3.

After the picture is in position, the shoulders I5, I5 of the two screws I3, I3 provide a twopoint support spaced longitudinally of the picture 20 so that any jarring or vibration of the wall I2 will not disturb the level position of the picture 20; however, if it becomes desirable to relocate the picture laterally 0f the wall surface I2, that is, toward one or the other corners of the room, then the serrations I9 are dis-engaged from the screws I 3, I 3' by lifting upwardly on the picture 20. The picture 20 is moved laterally the desired distance and then lowered so that a different pair of serrations I9 match up with the shoulders I5, I5 of the screws I3, I3. Of course, more than two of the screws I3 may be used in hanging a picture, and because the strip I0 acts as a template the screws I3 will always match with a serration I 9 in the strip H.

In marketing my picture hanger, the support strip I0 and the attaching strip Il may be supplied in continuous lengths which may be rolled and packaged. With this arrangement, the required amount of support strip I 0 and the required amount of attaching strip I1 may be fitted to the particular frame and then cut from the continuous lengths. This also permits simple fabrication of my picture hanger since the continuous lengths of the support strip I0 and the attaching strip Il may be machine formed from continuous lengths of fiat metal or plastic or other suitable material.

It is not necessary in positioning the components of my picture hanger to have the two screws I3, I3 exactly the same distance from the side edges 2| of the picture 20 and with this advantage a larger or a smaller picture frame may be substituted for the one presently in use. The entire structure is concealed behind the picture and retains the picture on the Wall in an attractive manner.

It is obvious that I have presented a needed article of great utility and although I have illustrated a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications and changes may be made in the embodiment shown and described without departing from the scope of my invention as definedin the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In apparatus of the class described, an elongated strip having a plurality of longitudinally spaced holes therethrough, a plurality of retaining screws cooperating with said holes for attaching said strip to a supporting surface, each of said screws having a threaded shank inserted through one of said holes and a shoulder portion larger than said holes, an attaching strip having a plurality of notches longitudinally spaced along the bottom edge thereof, said notches being spaced apart the same distance as the holes in said elongated strip, and means for attaching said attaching strip to an article to be supported, certain of said notches cooperating with said screws for removably supporting said article on said supporting surface.

2. In apparatus of the class described an elongated strip having a plurality of spaced holes substantially along the longitudinally center line thereof, a plurality of retaining screws cooperating with said holes for attaching said strip to a supporting surface, each of said screws having a threaded shank smaller than said holes and a shoulder portion larger than said holes, said shoulder portion protruding from said strip when said strip is fastened to a supporting surface by means of said screws, an attaching strip having a. plurality of holes longitudinally spaced adjacent the top edge thereof and a plurality of serrations longitudinally spaced along the bottom edge thereof, said serrations being spaced apart the same distance as the holes in said elongated strip, and means cooperating with certain of said holes in said attaching strip for attaching said attaching strip to an article to be supported, certain of said serrations cooperating with the shoulder portion of said screws for removably supporting said article on said supporting surface.

JENS I. KROGH.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,405,083 Wilson Jan. 31, 1922 1,600,919 Baalsrud et al. Sept. 21, 1926 1,908,200 Webster May 9, 1933 2,263,901 Olney Nov. 25, 1941 2,271,928 Sims Feb. 3, 1942 2,448,137 Cody Aug. 31, 1948 2,478,256 Eysmann Aug. 9, 1949 

